DEBS 3: World Connection
by hogwaffle
Summary: Shortly after Destination Hope Scud comes to visit Amy and Lucy in Spain, as the other DEBS head off to the Secret DEBS convention. Katia has other ideas however, and soon Lucy, Amy, and Scud are off to save the DEBS.
1. Chapter 1

DEBS characters are owned by Angela Robinson, and this is a sequel to my story DEBS 2 Destination Hope, found on this site which was a sequel to her kick ass movie DEBS. Lyrics belong to Frou frou, from the song close up. I am going to try to update this quickly, but no promises, feedback and excitement will speed my progress)

: Is this a feeling of something  
About to happen?  
Like snapping out of something I didn't realize I was in.  
Was I sleeping:

Lucy's POV

I tapped the steering wheel impatiently as the car inched forward through traffic to the arrivals gate. Up ahead of us people where greeting friends and relatives with excruciating slowness.

"Oh come on!" I slammed the horn. "Hug them when they're in the car people."

"Lucy," Amy put a hand on my arm, and I tried to relax.

"Sorry," I muttered as we finally pulled to the curb. "Where the hell's Scud?" We both craned our necks, searching through the throng of people.

"There," Amy pointed and I saw Scud waving to us as he shoved through the crowd. We climbed out to the car and I met him with a quick hug.

"How've you been?" I asked giving him a little shove.

"Been good," he grinned shoving his bag into the backseat.

"Great to see you," Amy hugged him tight.

"Come on people, I'm not waiting here for my health, stupid Americans," yelled a man with a thick Spanish accent, laying on his horn.

"Oh go eat yourself," I flipped him the bird as we climbed into the car. "Some people have no patience," I muttered as I pulled the car back into traffic, in the mirror I saw Amy and Scud exchange smirks. "What?"

"Nothing," Amy smiled, leaning over to kiss my cheek. "I love you."

"Me too, honey," Scud patted my shoulder and I swatted his hand, they both laughed.

"How's Janet?" Amy asked.

"Good, excited for the convention," Scud nodded. "After the last assignment, and the metal Max hasn't been giving her quite so much shit."

"They figure anything out about Katia?" I asked, glancing at Scud in the review quickly before returning my attention to the road.

"Call came out of Tokyo, but you knew that. Other than that she seems to have fallen off, there's been no sightings. Any more phone calls?"

"No," I shook my head.

"Maybe she was just bluffing," Scud shrugged.

"People like her don't bluff," I shook my head. "She's planning something."

"We'll be ready for her, babe," Amy took my hand, giving it a squeeze. "Let's just enjoy Scud's visit.

"Yeah, it's vacation time," Scud grinned.

"I guess," I smiled over at Amy.

We pulled into the driveway just as dusk was falling; I carried Scud's bags into the spare room, and met him on the porch. We kicked back watching the sunset fade, colors blurring to black. I glanced over at Scud, whose eyes were half closed as he dozed.

"Hey," Amy set down a bottle of wine, and glasses on the table.

"You are the best girlfriend ever," Scud, smiled, uncorking the bottle and pouring three glasses. He took a sip from his, then leaned back in his chair again, readjusting, and setting his cell phone on the table. I grabbed it.

"This is sweet," I flipped open the phone examining it. "A global cell?"

"Yep, Janet hooked me up with it from the DEBS stash," he grinned. "I kinda think it's just so she can use the built in GPS to always know where I am."

"Aww, she trusts you," Amy assured him.

"She might, but the other two don't quite yet."

"Not everyone's as trusting as you, Amy," I leaned over kissing her cheek gently. "Hard to believe some of us hardened criminals can change right?" I raised my glass to Scud.

"Here, here!" he tapped my glass with his and we both drained the glasses, I poured us each some more. On the table Scud's phone began to vibrate, he sat quickly to pick it up. "It's Janet," he frowned, flipping open the phone, setting it on speakerphone. "Hey babe."

"Scud," Janet whimpered a little, we all exchanged looks.

"Janet, what's wrong?" Amy asked, leaning forward.

"Amy, she's here, Katia, she has the place surrounded, they took all our cell phones."

"Katia," I asked leaning forward, any trace of a buzz gone.

"We're all here, and she's going to kill us."

"Janet, calm down. What's happening," Scud looked terrified.

"You have to stop her; it was a trap one of us." The line went dead. Aside from the lapping of waves on the beach, the world was silent, finally scud grabbed the phone.

"Janet? Janet?" He yelled into the phone.

"Scud," I grabbed his arm, pulling the phone from his ear. "Chill. Amy," She looks up at me, face pale in the twilight. "Where's the convention."

"I…I don't know," she shakes her head.

"Scud, where is it." He shakes his head too.

"I don't know."

"No one knows," Amy explains. "Each year the location is different, and known only to DEBS. Lucy, think about it, every DEB in the world is there, if people knew where it was."

"Someone might take control of the place, hold them all hostage, or blow the place up? Hmm what do you think Katia has in mind? A or B?" I stand and start pacing. "Janet's phone has GPS too, right? Can we trace it, figure out where they are?"

"Not likely," Scud answers, throwing his phone on the table.

"The phones are scrambled," Amy explained.

"We have to find them, this is my mess, Katia's doing this for me."

"No, she's doing this because she hates the DEBS and they ruined her plans for world destruction."

"Yeah and we were a part of those plans," inside the phone began to ring.

"Lucy, this really isn't about you," Amy tried to grab me, but I pulled away.

"We never should have helped them, we coulda stayed on the run, and then we wouldn't have this super bad bitch trying to fuck everything up, and god can you shut up!" I yelled at the phone. I heard me and Amy on the voicemail.

"Yeah and only a few small countries would have had to be exploded in exchange," Amy scowled at me. "What are your priorities, Lucy?"

"Lucy Diamond." We all froze, and turned as one to look into the house. "I assume you got sweet little Janet's message yes?" Katia's voice dripped with false kindness. I strode purposefully into the house. "All your little friends are here. Max, what a fighter, and that Dominique…"

"Fuck you," I answered the phone.

"Oh you are home," she laughed icily. "How's the coast this time of year?"

"Let them go," I spoke through clenched teeth, heading back to the patio, she laughed again.

"Oh Lucy, you have gone soft to even ask that."

"What do you want?"

"That's better, now you understand me," she was practically purring. "I want my son to be free, I want to take him to the park without worrying that I will be arrested and he will be taken away."

"You really picked the wrong career then," I answered snidely. Scud gave me a thumbs up.

"Not with you helping me, love."

"Maybe you missed it, but fuck you."

"You understand a remote detonator, yes?"

"Of course," I froze. Amy mouthed what, but I held up a hand.

"You know how to put one together?"

"No."

"You may want to learn. Explosives are lined around the DEBS convention area. If you do not help me they will be dead before the week is over."

"What do you want," I bit the words out, each one hurt.

"Money, enough to live well and off the radar. One hundred million."

"Yeah let me just run over to the bank in the morning and get it," I replied sarcastically. Amy lifted an eyebrow. I scribbled the number on the piece of paper and handed it to her, her eyes went wide.

"I know you have money and possessions buried away, but don't worry, I don't want anything you have. The DEBS have offices all around the world, each office has a vault, you will break into each one until you have collected my money."

"I'll do that why?" I asked.

"Because each time you make a delivery to me I will give you a piece of a copy of the detonator. While I have a copy I can still use, yours will be the one which can override and disable the explosives."

"Won't help us if we don't know where they are."

"When I have my money you will know where the DEBS are. Do we have a deal?" I was silent, biting my lip and thinking this all over. "You need time to think. I will call you in the morning." The line went dead, and I let the phone drop to the table as I sunk into a chair.

"What's going on?" Amy asked, as I buried my head in my hands.

"How well do you know the layouts of the DEBS headquarters around the world?"

"Well enough I guess," she frowned. "Lucy, talk to me what's going on?"

"The convention center is loaded with explosives. Katia will give us the detonator piece by piece if we break into the DEBS headquarters around the world until we get her money."

"One hundred million?" Scud's mouth dropped open in awe. "No way, that would take forever.

"Our branch of the offices had probably twenty million in cash, another ten in product," Amy spoke slowly. "The other braches should be equally stocked."

"What kind of a secret agency do you people run?" Scud asked standing, and running a hand through his mess of hair.

"Can you put back together the detonator, Scud?"

"Can I put back together. Fuck!" I stared at him, unblinking, waiting for him to calm down, he punched the air a couple times and stomped his foot in anger. "Fuck, yes, yes I can put it back together."

"Good," I smiled. "You two ready for some exciting crime?"


	2. Chapter 2

Lyrics belong to Paul Oakenfold, starry eyed surprise

: You got to  
Feel the rush, feel the spice of life  
Thug life  
Shifty rolls the dice  
Snake eyed surprise  
Izing, mesmerizin  
The mic, the sick ones  
'Cause what we are are victims of fun  
C'mon, c'mon, the fun has just begun:

Six am the next morning the phone rang. I detangled myself from Amy's naked body, and stumbled to the hall phone, tugging a shirt over my head. Knocking a wooden Buddha to the floor with a crash I picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"You are ready to go?" Katia asked.

"Still not sure," I delayed.

"You are sure; you are a good guy now. You will not let them die." I was silent not wanting to let her know how right she was. "Your contact will meet you in Paris tonight at ten pm. You will meet her outside the DEBS offices."

"And we are supposed to get to Paris by then how?"

"You will figure it out." She hung up again. I was starting to be really annoyed at that. I hung up the phone and noticed Scud standing in the door of the guest room.

"Where's the meet?" He asked, scratching his head.

"Paris."

"Oh," he nodded, then grinned. "I missed this."

"What?" I asked confused, he pointed a finger up and down at me. "This you running around in your underwear." I glanced down at my tank top and boy short underwear.

"Bastard," I shook my head grinning.

"You missed me," he smiled, moving back into his room. "Wake me in a couple hours."

"Oh no," grabbed him by the neck, pulling him back into the hallway. "You're not going back to sleep. We have to find a pilot." I started to pull him toward the front door.

"Okay, finding a pilot. I am good with that, but could we wear pants too do that?"

"Oh," I glanced sheepishly at my underwear and his boxers. "Sorry, not awake yet. Pants are good."

I let him back into his room, and slipped quietly into my bedroom. I opened the closet quietly picking a pair of jeans and sliding them on. I pulled off the tank top, putting on a bra, and then pulling the shirt back on. Amy sat up sleepily.

"Where you going?" She asked rubbing her eyes.

"Have to find a pilot to get us to Paris tonight."

"Find Evan at the docks," she mumbled laying back down.

"Evan?" I asked.

"Blonde hair, works on Broken Promises, a sailboat."

"Okay," I kiss her forehead and grab my wallet from the dresser, shutting the door as quietly as possible. Scud's standing in the hallway, jeans and a t shirt on. Grabbing my keys we head out to the car. The docks are crowded this early, ships coming and going. We stroll along until I see Broken Promises; it's the largest sailboat I have ever seen.

"This Evan guy own the boat?" Scud asks after I knock on the hull.

"She said he works on it," I shrug. A man with shaggy blonde hair leans over the deck, smiling down at us.

"Can I help you two?"

"Evan?" I ask, shading my eyes to look up at him.

"That depends who sent you looking for me," his good natured smile never wavers, but I sense tenseness.

"Amy Bradshaw," his face lights up.

"Right then, I'm Evan, come on up." We climb onboard, both looking around in awe.

"Wow," Scud nods. "This is nice."

"The boss likes nice things. So I assume Amy sent you here for a reason."

"Yeah, she didn't explain much, but we need a pilot."

"A pilot?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, and a plane."

"Why?" I glanced at Scud and he shrugged.

"There's this Slovakian criminal mastermind named Katia, who we stopped once from blowing up the world, and she is really pissed at us, and wants to kill all the members of a secret world agency of female crime fighters, and the only way we can stop her is by flying around the world where ever she wants and breaking into the headquarters to get her money." Evan stared at me for a couple minutes.

"All right let's see what the boss says." He lead us below deck into a decadent living room where a middle aged man sat playing x box. "Markus," the man turned off the game, turning to us.

"Oh visitors how nice."

"They need a small favor," Evan informed him, and motioned to me. I repeated exactly what I had told Evan. Markus began to laugh when I was done.

"That is fantastic my young girl. Amy has told us a lot about you, I had heard your were beautiful, but this is more than I expected. He stood, fingering my hair. "Just gorgeous."

"Thanks," I stuttered, not sure what we were doing here anymore with this totally weird man.

"I will give you a plane and pilot. He speaks only Italian will that work for you?"

"Uh, yeah," I sputtered, shocked.

"Then it will be at the airport at six pm, the name of the plane is the same as this boat. Evan will show you out." With that he was back playing his game. Evan led us up and off the boat. We walked silently up the docks until we felt safely away from the strange boat, Scud and I exchanged glances and burst into laughter.


	3. Chapter 3

Lyrics belong to Alizee from Youpidou

: Tes mots d'amour, c'est pas le jour!  
Un mot de trop, c'est ce qu'il faut.  
J'vais faire un tour, aux alentours...  
J'ai le moral au grand zéro.:

"Just so you know, I think this is a really bad idea," Amy announced as we entered the private entrance of the airport.

"Noted," I nodded, taking her hand as we were lead through back hallways to a private gate. We stopped in the lounge, lushly furnished couches thick enough to sleep comfortably on.

"You're pilot, Antonio will be with you soon," our usher bowed and turned back the way we came. We exchanged glances and sat down, Scud, facing us, tapping his feet impatiently.

"You know where the headquarters is?" I asked Amy.

"Of course. Don't worry, we'll get there okay," she squeezed my hand.

"Scud, you ready for this?"

"Whatever we gotta do to get Janet back," he nodded, then met Amy's look. "And, you know, save all the other DEBS."

"Miss Diamond?" The accent was thick we all stood quickly, I held out my hand.

"Yes, you must be Antonio."

"Si," he nodded, bowed his head a bit, and ignored my hand.

"All right then," I lowered my hand.

"Markus said you need passage to Paris, and from there I am to wait for your instructions, correct?"

"Yes," I nodded.

"In Paris I will need to rest, the airplane is equipped with space for me; you will need accommodations for the night."

"Not a problem," I assured him.

"Yes," he looked us over disgustedly. "We will go now." He turned on his heel, and strode down the walkway to the plane. We quickly gathered our bags, trotting after him into the private jet.

"Ho shit," Scud smiled looking around the jet. It had couches around the interior, and plasma TV's at either end of the cabin area.

"So how do you know this guy?" I asked Amy, sinking into one of the couches.

"I met him at the market," she shrugged, he complimented my hair.

"He is creepy weird," I frowned.

"Who cares? We are traveling luxury class!" Scud was reclined out across one of the couches. "We need to travel like this every time we go on a crime spree." Amy tossed a pillow at him.

"No crime sprees," she shook her head.

"Babe, I hate to tell you, but we're about to be on one," I pointed out gently.

"This is a rescue mission," she corrected.

"It's breaking and entering."

"With good reason," she argued.

"There's always a good reason," Scud piped up. "New car, pay off bills."

"New Jimmy Choo's," I threw in, Amy gave me a look.

"You don't care about fashion."

"I so do," I argued, interrupted as Antonio's bored voice came over the loud speaker.

"We are taking off, you will buckle up tight and I will tell you when you may relax."

"That's comforting," Scud muttered, sitting up and tightening his seatbelt.

"I care about fashion. These boots," I stuck a foot out for her inspection. "Steve Madden and this t shirt? Guess." Amy rolled her eyes.

"Okay, you are a fashionista." I smiled, and grabbed her hand as the jet lunged into action, holding her tight as we were quickly in the air.

"You may now relax," Antonio spoke, and the plasma TV's flashed on, shelves opening to reveal a stunning amount of DVD's. Before Scud could become too distracted, I pulled him on task.

"Amy you have the sketch of the building?"

"As well as I can remember," she pulled a folded sheet of paper from her pocket, smoothing it on the coffee table in front of us, we all leaned forward.

"We're going to enter through the side door, which will put us in the stairway; the vault is in the basement, just one level down. The Paris chapter is one of the oldest in the force, one of the easiest to penetrate, probably why Katia picked it to start with."

"Does it really matter? I mean all the DEBS are away." Scud asked.

"I'm betting the DEBS have plenty of security set up," Amy nodded at me.

"Not so much in Paris, but depending where she sends us we could have a hard time. Paris has cameras that feed into other DEBS headquarters, so no problems there, but every room is equipped with motion sensor that will force the place into lock down if stimulated. Which is why we brought the scrambler." She held it up for visual proof. "After that the six inch steel vault door."

"Which is why we brought dynamite," Scud smiled.

"Or we could use the lock gun," I offered, "less mess."

"I think you mean less fun," Scud grinned. "These all the notes?"

"I think," Amy nodded.

"Good, then I am going to get some sleep, cause I have a feeling this is going to be a long night."

"Good plan," Amy nodded, folding back up the makeshift map. Scud slipped headphones on and curled up on his couch away from us. We managed to curl up together on our own couch, I stroked Amy's hair, eyes shut, only the gentle hum of the jet.

"Are we really doing crime?" Amy whispered.

"Yes, we really are," I answered, kissing her brow, she opened her eyes, and I smiled down at her.

"The DEBS are more important then shoes right?"

"Almost," I grinned.

"Lucy," she frowned.

"Yes, they are. Saving the DEBS makes this all justifiable."

"Says the girl who justifies stealing for shoes," she grinned, shutting her eyes again.

"Hey, they are really nice shoes," I defended, and she laughed quietly.

"Thanks for this, not everyone would fly around the world stealing money to save her girlfriends friends." I smiled, kissing her again, before shutting my eyes and lying down again.

"Well, to be fair it's not everyone who has the experience or ability to do all that."

We were on the lawn in front of the Eiffel Tower by nine thirty. Even with the fates of every DEB in the world on our shoulders, and an impending robbery, the Paris effect was kicking it. We strolled casually, having time to kill, I held Amy's hand happily, almost able to block out the rest of it.

"It's beautiful at night isn't it?" Amy asked, leaning her head to mine.

"Totally," I agreed, kissing her forehead.

"I never thought about how great it would be to be here with you," Amy smiled, as we stood looking up at the tower. "Before I didn't understand the whole love reputation of Paris."

"But now?" I asked, grinning and pulling her to me, arms wrapped around her waist.

"Now it all seems perfect," she smiled, meeting my lips, I pulled her closer, ready for a long intense kiss, a perfect kiss under the Eiffel tower, behind us Scud cleared his throat.

"My girlfriend might die soon. Get blown up actually," we separated, both turning to face him. He stood, not looking at us, hands in his pockets, rocking back and forth on his heels. He turned to look at us then. "Just keeping your heads in the game," he shrugged. I slapped him across the back of the head.

"So where's the headquarters?" I asked, sighing, the mood completely gone.

"Just over there," Amy pointed, and we started in the direction. Crossing a busy street, and walking about a block down, Amy stopped in front of a stone building, shorter then those around it. It was beautiful in a very old kind of way.

"This is it."

"And the contact is where?" Scud looked around.

"Katia said the contact would be here at ten," I checked my watch, nine fifty-nine. "They should be here."

"I'm here." From behind us a woman our age strode forward, shoes clacking on the pavement, she turned, facing us, arms crossed, legs long in a short black skirt, and heels, perfectly tailored suit jacket revealing more than a tease of cleavage, red hair that could only come from a bottle, cut to frame her face. I snapped my attention back to Amy when I felt I had been staring too long. Amy stood, slack jawed looking at the woman.

"Conner?"


	4. Chapter 4

Lindy Booth is playing Conner Daily. She was the annoying girl in wrong turn with the red hair who had sex on the car, and was in some other stuff too, hard to find pics of her on the web. Lyrics belong to Letters to Cleo from "Dangerous type"

: She's a lot like you   
The dangerous type  
She's a lot like you  
Come on and hold me tight:

"Conner Daily?" Amy asked again still staring at the woman.

"Amy Bradshaw, yeah yeah Katia told me she was calling in you. I told her I could do this alone, but she was set on having the perfect score. And you two," she looked disgustedly over Scud and I.

"You're working with Katia?" Amy frowned. "But you're a DEB!"

"Yeah, babe that was forever ago, I was part of a group tailing Katia, we had split up and I was the one to find her. Katia made a better offer."

"If you were looking for Katia that was like a month ago," I pointed out.

"A better offer then saving the world from people like her?" Amy

asked, both of them ignoring me.

"I seem to remember you had a better offer once too, so don't go

giving me that perfect score bullshit," Conner snapped.

"Okay, time out bitches," Scud stepped in between them. "I think we all need to back up just a little bit, band together, and steal some cash, and maybe find a club." I grinned, watching Amy and Conner eyeing each other, finally Amy rolled her eyes.

"Whatever, lets go."

"What through the front door?" Conner laughed mirthlessly.

"There's a side door dipshit," I spun heading for the alley where the side door should be. I heard the others following slowly behind me, but at least they were being quiet. The alley was darker then the street, the lights of tourist Paris being left behind. I found the door and crouched beside it, I slid on gloves watching the others do the same before they crouched around me.

"The code?" I whispered to Amy.

"I'm not saying in front of her, let me do it," she pushed in front of me. I had no choice but to let her in front of me, or be thrown on my ass. Scud exchanged a look that said it all. 'what the hell'. I nodded in agreement.

The door opened with a near silent click, Amy grinned at me and

pulled it open. Conner started in, but Amy grabbed her arm, pulling her back before she could actually step inside.

"What the fuck?" Conner hissed. Amy held out a hand to me and I gave her the scrambler. She aimed it into the room and held the trigger, there was a faint sizzling sound and she handed it back to me. Looking

very satisfied she motioned Conner inside.

"Motion sensors dumbass." Conner gave her a look and I expected them to stick their tongues out at each other, but Conner simply stepped inside. We filed in behind her and the door shut plunging us into a deeper darkness then outside. Beside me Scud fumbled with the flashlight, soon the stairway flooded with light.

"Now where?" Conner asked, tossing her hair out of her face.

"Did you pay attention to any of our classes?" Amy asked.

"Downstairs," I answered before this could escalate. "The vault is in the basement. Are the stairs clear now?"

"Should be clear all the way up and down now," Amy confirmed with a nod.

"Are we all ready then?" I asked.

"Yes can we just do this?" Scud shoved past leading the way to the basement. I took Amy's hand and pulled her along with us so there could be no more bickering to slow us down. Scud paused at the bottom of the stairs waiting for my to scramble the motion detectors, I did and we stepped through.

"Left," Amy announced, we turned, following her directions until we stood in front of the vault.

"Let me guess, you have the code to this too?" Conner asked sarcastically.

"Kids," I stepped forward, jamming the lock gun into the old fashioned lock, and pulling the trigger, at the same time tugging on the handle a couple pulls and the keys aligned and the door swung open.

"You aren't so lame after all," Conner stepped into the vault smirking.

"No No No No! We all jumped forward trying to pull her back but the alarm was already sounding, the vault door shutting. The three of us grabbed the handle trying to slow the door enough to let Conner out, it pulled us forward until suddenly it ground to a halt, a few inches room to spare, the alarm still blaring.

"What the hell?" Scud peered around the door and began to laugh, I looked around and smiled. There wedged in the door was a pile of gold bricks. Conner grinned through the crack, shoving the door open wide enough to let us in.

"Let's hurry," I began loading down my back, the others quickly following suit. The alarm pounded in my ears, if the DEBS had forwarded the signal to any law enforcement we had only minutes before they would be at the building, I thanked God for small favors when we had all loaded our bags with no more fighting between Amy and Conner, and no sign of the police.

"Let's go," Scud let the way out of the vault; I held the door for Amy, then Conner, who grabbed the gold. We took off running to the stairs, vault slamming shut behind us. Weighed down, we scrambled up the stairs, pausing by the door, I motioned for them all to wait, and peered out, no sign of police yet, but faintly over the alarm I thought I could hear sirens in the distance.

"Move," I shoved them all through.

"Head for the back, we'll circle round to the car," Conner ordered, we all followed her without question, with the door shut, the sound of sirens was more pronounced and getting closer. We come to the corner of the building just as a security guard rounded it. Without hesitation Conner clocked him with the butt of her forty-five, smoothly sliding into the small of her back as the man crumpled to the ground.

"What the hell?" Amy yelled, as Scud and I sprinted past the man, she bent, putting her fingers to his throat, checking for a pulse. I skidded to a stop, I ran back to her, grabbing her arm and pulling her up.

"He's fine, let's go!"

"Lucy, he's unconscious!" She gave me a pleading look.

"And the police are almost here," I matched her look, tugging impatiently. "He's breathing right?" She nodded. "Then he'll be fine, but we'll be in jail if we don't get our asses moving!" She paused for a moment, still looking down at the man, who gave a slight moan. With a quick nod we took off again, passing through the alley behind the other building till we reached the street again.

"Where are they?" Amy asked, looking left and right.

"They'll be here," I nodded, searching the street.

"Yeah she's real dependable," Amy answered sarcastically.

"They'll be here," I spoke firmly.

"Whatever Lucy," she rolled her eyes.

"What is your problem?" I asked, dropping my bag.

"Nothing," she crossed her arms, turning away from me.

"Whatever," I muttered.

"I'm just nervous, hello that wasn't really my thing back there. And now we are just standing here, waiting for the police." Just as she spoke twp cruiser speed past the intersection, I heard them screech to a stop, presumably in front of the DEBS building.

"Fuck," Amy looked frantic; I pulled my bag back on, taking her hand.

"Come on," we started walking away from the street with the police. Just as we did a sports car slammed to a stop at the curb, Scud waved from the passenger seat, a huge grin on his face. We quickly tossed our bags in the truck and got in the back seat. Conner pulled a quick u turn and we headed away into the night.

Paris sped by till Conner pulled into a small park, dark at this time of night and seemingly deserted. As we all climbed out Conner's phone began to ring, we all started at the sudden noise then watched as she answered.

"Yes? Yes, just a little misstep. Yes," she frowned. "Um, sure. She wants to speak to you," I took the phone from her outstretched hand, not surprised to hear Katia's voice.

"Cutting it a bit close, I believe."

"Yeah, well speak to your girl about that. And we got what we went in for."

"I did not doubt you had. Conner is going to take you into the park, just you, and we will make the exchange."

"Right, and then what?" I laughed. "You shoot me?"

"You may bring whatever weapons you want." She hung up.

"You know the plan?" I asked Conner, handing back her phone and lifting my bag from the trunk.

"Yes," she grabbed her bag and we each took another.

"What's going on?" Scud asked warily.

"I'm the only one going on the meet."

"That's bullshit," Amy scowled.

"Love you too," I gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Be back soon."

"Lucy," she grabbed my arm. I slowly pulled it out of her grasp.

"It's out of my hands." I followed Conner into the darkness until we were out of range of the car; I released the safety, and pressed my gun to the back of her head. "Give me your gun."

"Get that piece of shit off me," she growled.

"Give me your gun."

"Fuck you Diamond."

"Katia said I could bring whatever weapons I want, and I would feel a lot better holding yours, you don't want me to have to tell her that her lapdog doesn't listen do you?" I asked sweetly. She let out a long annoyed breath.

"Whatever," she reached slowly behind her back, grabbing her gun, then whipped around to hit me with it, I leant back enough that she missed me, twisted the gun out of her grasp, and pressed both barrels to her temples.

"Nice try, but one more time and I might develop a taste for killing. Katia's got us in a corner here, but I am pretty sure you are expendable. You are not on top here." She nodded angrily. "Glad you understand that. Now let's get to the meet."

Five minutes later we stopped in a clearing, both dropping our bags, I retrained the gun sites on her. We stood still for a few moments, until rustling in the woods announced Katia's arrival, I spun one gun to cover her too, she was flanked by three big guys in dark suits arms crossed all secret service style.

"Calm down Lucy, I have what you want."

"And we have what you want. Send one of them over." One of the big guys immediately knelt before a bag opening it and inspecting the contents, he nodded to Katia. She produced what a recognized as the remote for the bombs. Then pulled a piece from her pocket tossing it to me, I let it drop to the ground.

"Next job is in Berlin. I hope we can be more civil next time.

"Sure," I answered with mild sarcasm. I knelt, grabbing the piece, and turning to jog back to the car. I made it back quickly.

"Come on," I told the other two, tossing Scud the piece. "What is it?" I asked as we walked.

"Looks like the motherboard for the control."

"Good,"

"Where are we going?" Amy asked.

"Hotel, then we have to head for Berlin tomorrow." A horn honked behind us, and we stopped seeing Conner pull up beside us. She leaned to open the passenger door, our bags sitting there.

"Katia wanted you to have these back." Scud grabbed them, shutting the door. She looked at us for a moment, then smiled. "See you in Berlin then," she sped off into the night.

"I think you're right about her Amy," I said with a slow nod.

"What's that?" Amy asked.

"I don't like her," Scud started walking again.

"Yeah, and she's a bitch," I added.


	5. Chapter 5

Lyrics belong to Tegan and Sarah from "I know I know I know"

: Stick your heart inside of my chest  
Keep it warm here while we rest  
Tell them this love hasn't changed me, hasn't changed me at all  
The same as I love you, you'll always love me too  
This love isn't good unless it's me and you:

Antonio managed to get us to Berlin with plenty of time to spare, practically throwing us off the plane and cruising away to the hanger with a surly announcement that we should contact him no later then ten am tomorrow with a flight plan or he will assume we are staying in Berlin a second day.

"If that man wasn't the one helping us get this all done I would punch him in the face," I shook my head, sliding on sunglasses as we stepped out of the terminal.

"He does seem to have permanent PMS," Scud nodded, Amy punched his arm.

"That is beyond sexist!"

"Ow," Scud grabbed his arm. "Hello, he's a man! Not sexist at all!"

"We have forever before the meet," I interrupted their little argument. "Is there anything to do here?"

"We could see the Berlin wall," Scud suggested, Amy and I exchanged looks. "What?"

"Uh, the Berlin wall?" Amy raised an eyebrow.

"Okay maybe a little lame," Scud admitted.

"Or maybe a little torn down," I corrected with a smile.

"Really?" Scud looked shocked. "I must have missed that." I nodded as Amy nuzzled me from behind, whispering suggestively into my ear. I grinned widely.

"Sound good to me," I nodded.

"What?" Scud turned back to us looking very confused.

"I think we'll just get checked into the hotel. Rest up a bit."

"Yeah," Amy added. "Exciting crime later remember? We'll need to be at full strength." Scud looked annoyed with our practiced innocent looks.

"Uh-huh," Scud nodded, holding our look for another moment, before raising his arm. "Taxi!" A passing cab screeched to a halt. I started to get in, but Scud shoved me back. "Oh no, this is my taxi, I am going to see the sights." He pulled on a pair of shades, looking at us for another couple seconds, as Amy pulled me back to her, kissing my neck just how I liked it.

"See you at the hotel," I smiled.

"I hate you both," Scud climbed into the taxi slamming the door. We laughed as the car sped away.

"That was so not nice," I spoke through laughter.

"Sorry," Amy answered, backing away,

"Oh no," I turned, pulling her back to me. "We need to get that rest."

"Right," she grinned kissing me gently, arms wrapping around me. I managed to lift an arm, hoping to hail a taxi. I wrapped the other arm around her waist pulling her closer, our tongues fighting for space, before finally pulling apart. "Wow," she sighed.

"They call those skillz," I smile proudly, she frowns.

"No," I look where she's pointing and see about six cabs parked along the curb drivers all leaning out the window's with stupid grins on their faces.

"Oh," I grin wider "they call that sex appeal."

"God, you're a dork," she rolls her eyes, opening the door to the cab closest to us; we shove our things inside and are quickly on route to the hotel.

I roll over exhausted, separating my sweat soaked body from Amy's, but then reach back to wrap my fingers with hers. She looks over at me and we share a smile, she rolls closer to me, kissing my cheek gently.

"Wow," I sigh, and she begins to laugh.

"Yeah, wow indeed."

"I'm tingling," I grin, holding her close. "And really cold too," I sit and pull the covers over us. She snuggles close and we lay silent and happy for a few moments.

"So…. you think this is all going to work out?" She asks and I moan disappointed for being brought back to reality. "Sorry," she laughs.

"Yeah, I think it will all be okay," I nod. "I mean we've been through worse right?"

"I guess so," she shrugs.

"You guess so?" I sit up on my side, propping myself up on my elbow. "Katia isn't trying to kill us this week so I would say it could for sure be worse. I would rather have her on our side."

"Better to work for the devil?" She smirked.

"I guess so," I shrugged. "If it keeps us and a whole bunch of DEBS alive and kicking, then yeah I would say working for the devil is in the plus column."

"Okay then," she sighed, getting out of the bed.

"Wait, are we okay?" I ask sitting up, holding the sheets to my chest.

"Yeah we're fine," she was pulling on her clothes in a way that let me know we were defiantly not fine.

"No, none of that," I Made my way over to her, wrapping her in my arms from behind. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing!" She struggled for me to let her go, but I held tight, until she calmed down, sagging back against me, her hand over mine.

"Nothing?" I asked.

"It's just." She sighed. "Just so easy for you to go back to this, to take money from the people who rightfully have it, and give it to a criminal."

"Okay," I back up a bit, and she turns to me. "First of, most of the money the DEBS have was taken from criminals to begin with, and secondly I am doing this to save the DEBS. How hard is it to understand that I am not just doing this for a good time, but to save people you care about?" Now I am pissed and begin pulling on my own clothes.

"Lucy," I ignore her. "Lucy, I'm sorry. I just worry that you're going to remember how much you loved doing this."

"Yeah well I haven't given you any reason to doubt me, so can't you just wait till I do something wrong to stop trusting me?" I pull on a tank top and stare angrily at her.

"Yeah, I can do that," she has a half smile on her face; one that she knows makes me melt. I roll my eyes.

"Don't make that face," but already I am grinning too.

"Sorry," she says again, stepping within range, I grab her wrist, pulling us both back onto the bed. We kiss passionately for a few minutes before pulling apart and staring at each other. I reach up, tucking back a strand of her hair.

"I love you," she smiles down at me, I nod.

"I love you too."


	6. Chapter 6

Lyrics belong to Oomph from the song "**Träumst du".**

Du weißt genauso gut wie ich  
Dass ich nicht schlafen kann  
Denn meine träume kreisen  
Immer nur um dich:

I woke with a start as the room phone rang, I fumbled to get out from under Amy's half dressed body, she mumbled and rolled over. I grabbed the phone.

"Hello?" I rubbed my eyes wondering how long we had been asleep.

"Lucy?"

"Scud?" I asked, confused.

"Are you sleeping?" He asked sounding a little pissed.

"No, totally not," I lied, sitting up and running my fingers through my hair.

"Right," he answered, obviously not buying it. "Well we only have about a half hour till the meet, so I was wondering..."

"Oh shit," I jumped up, shaking Amy. "You in the lobby," I asked Scud as Amy's fluttered open.

"Yep," he answered.

"We'll be right down." I hung up the phone. "We slept for hours, the meets in a half hour." I told Amy as I pulled on a jacket.

"Oh," she jumped up, finishing dressing in about two seconds. She brushed her hair quickly and we headed downstairs.

"Cutting it a little close aren't we?" Scud smirked standing up as we entered the lobby.

"Just giving you your alone time," I smiled sweetly back. Scud led us out the door to a waiting cab, we all piled in letting Amy tell him the address. She leaned back in the seat looking over at me with a smile.

"What?" I asked smiling back.

"Nothing," she answered leaning her head on my shoulder. I kissed her hair leaning my head on hers and enjoying the smell of her, Scud met my eyes and stuck out his tongue. I smiled shutting my eyes and letting the ride pass silently, soon we reached the address and filed out of the cab.

"So which building?" Scud asked as the cab pulled away.

"That one," Amy pointed and we headed up the street, stopping when we were directly across from the building.

"Any sign of the beast?" Scud asked, looking around, I smirked and glanced around for Conner.

"There," I pointed her out, standing from a bench, I waved, and she scowled, stalking towards us.

"I could see you just fine," she hissed.

"Sorry," I hoped she understood that I definitely did not mean it.

"Whatever," she glanced around. "Let's get this over with. Is there a back door?"

"Yes," Amy answered. "An alley runs through the middle of the block, if we head around that way we should be able to get in with no witnesses."

"Sounds good to me," I nodded and started in the direction she indicated the alley. The others fell into step behind me; we rounded the corner silently, moving quickly down the alley.

"What's the security on this one?" I asked, as we approached the back of the building.

"About the same as the last one, motion detectors, noise detectors, it's another old building so should be easy in and out," Amy answered.

"Just like last time yeah?" Conner's voice betrayed her smirk even in the dark alley.

"Well if we can all remember the motion detectors this time," Scud drawled, flashing a smile at Conner when she glared at him. Amy entered the pass code and the door swung open, Amy flashed the hallway and we all stepped inside.

"Which way?" Scud asked.

"To the right, we need to get to the north stairwell. The vault is on the top floor," Amy explained. "We'll have to flash as we go."

"Right," I led the way to the right, after glancing up and down the hallway to make sure it was empty. In the dim security lights it was easy enough to see where we were going, the hall ended in a T a sign pointing us left for the stairs.

"Convenient to post directions for us," I smiled back at Amy who grinned back at me. We reached the stairs quickly, Scud putting his hand on the doorknob.

"Ready?" He asked.

"One second," Amy pulled out the scrambler.

"Could we go slower?" Conner asked.

"If you wanted," Amy shot back, fixing the dials and nodding at Scud. "Okay."

He opened the door, and Amy pressed the scrambler, then screamed backing up rapidly as barking exploded from the stairwell. Scud tried to push the door shut, but was too slow, he hit one dog and let go of the door. We took off running back the way we came.

"Shit shit shit," Scud shoved past Conner taking the lead, I glanced behind us, seeing two Dobermans running at full speed after us, I grabbed Amy's hand, pushing myself harder and hoping we would make it to the door. I glanced back again they were getting closer.

"Go!" I yelled as Scud reached the door, yanking it open, he was out in a second, Conner right behind; I shoved Amy through and grabbed the door, yanking it shut behind us, the dogs slammed against it, sending us all a few feet back.

"What the fuck," Scud wheezed.

"I don't remember those in the brochure," Conner huffed, leaning against the wall, barking still clear through the door.

"Now we really have to hurry," I panted, hands on my knees. Amy nodded.

"Yeah, let's just get right back in there," Conner chuckled.

"I hate her, but my sarcasm is with her," Scud nodded.

"We'll go in through the roof," I started looking up and down the building checking for a fire escape.

"Someone is gonna hear those dogs," Conner looked ready to walk away from all this.

"Which is why we are going to hurry, there," I pointed to the fire escape and started towards it, glancing back I saw Scud and Amy following, then Conner, rolling her eyes, arms crossed.

The fire escape ladder hung ten feet off the ground, I motioned Scud over and climbed on his back, he lifted me and stretching my fingers just brushed the bottom rung of the ladder, I stretched a little more and grabbed a hold, tugging down the ladder and Scud set me on the ground. We all climbed quickly, then clattered along up the stairs until we reached the roof.

"Now what?" Conner asked.

"Can you figure where the vault is?" I asked Amy who looked around the roof.

"Should be in the north corner, over there," she pointed and we started in that direction.

"What do you think there's going to be a hatch in?" Conner laughed. "We should just give up for the night, come back tomorrow with some poisoned steak.

"You are evil," I shook my head, totally sickened.

"We have a laser saw," Amy pulled it from her bag, handing it to Scud. "No need for poison steak."

"Here?" Scud asked.

"Try it," I shrugged. "Keep it at an angle so we can get a bit of leverage. Scud nodded and began to laser the hole. In less than a minute the hole was made, Scud grinned up at me.

"Let's see where we are," he pulled out a crow bar wiggling it into the cut, and prying up. He peered inside then looked up smiling. "And we're in."

"You're not serious," Conner looked amazed.

"See for yourself, Lucy, a hand here." Together we lifted away the slab and let it drop to the side. We all knelt around the hole, peering into the vault, lit by the same security lights as the rest of the building. I motioned to Amy to scramble the security feedback, if there was one.

"Okay two of us need to go in," I started once Amy had announced it was safe.

"I will," Amy and Conner spoke together then glared at each other.

"So we let the BFF's go down together and you and I sit pretty here?" Scud asked with a raised eyebrow, I nodded. "Sounds good," and he sat on the roof.

"We could help them down too," I suggested.

"No thanks," Conner sat on the edge of the hole, I had a quick though that she was probably glad she wore pants tonight, then she dropped in. Amy sat on the edge and I moved to help her.

"No thanks," she followed Conner in; Scud shot me a look with a smirk.

"What you didn't see that coming?" He asked. I rolled my eyes and lay with my head in the hole.

"Gimmie the bags, Scud." I passed them down to Amy, and watched as they began stuffing the bags full, three were full when we heard the clattering on the stairs.

"Fuck," my head shot up, Amy and Conner froze. "We got company," I whispered down.

"We gotta go, you guys, get up here, now we gotta go!" Scud hissed waving frantically.

"No, we gotta stay," I corrected him.

"What?"

"Is there anything you can use to reach the ceiling if we close you it?" I asked. Amy looked around, quickly.

"If we pull over a shelf we should be fine. What are you thinking Lucy?"

"I'm gonna shut this, wait ten minutes and follow us out, we'll distract the guard, and meet you back at the mouth of the alley where we came in."

"Oh what the fuck," Conner rolled her eyes. "We are so busted."

"Shut up," I snapped, starting to drag back over the slab. "Scud, a hand here." He helped me drop the stone silently back in place, just as it settled I jumped Scud, knocking him to the ground my lips pressed to his, my body holding his in place. There was immediate shouting in German.

"Sorry?" I asked sweetly, sitting up and pushing my hair back, Scud just lay looking stunned, which would work for now.

"Ah, American. You are tourists?"

"Yeah, sorry is this private property?" He nodded.

"Yes, a government building."

"Oh fuck," I answered, covering my mouth. "Wow, we didn't know."

"Yeah sorry, man," Scud answered, standing and pulling me to my feet, he put his arm around my waist. "It's our honeymoon you know, just looking for a way to make it memorable, yeah?" He gave the guy a wink, and squeezed my ass, I made a mental note to punch him later, but the guard grinned.

"Special, yes. There are apartments a few blocks that way," he pointed. "More likely you will not be interrupted, yes?"

"Sounds good," Scud grinned.

"I must walk you out now," the guard looked almost apologetic.

"Sure," I nodded and we followed him down the fire escape.

"I would take you through the building, but the dogs, they are in a fit tonight," he laughed as we reached the alley. "Follow me to the street please." We followed him out to the front of the building.

"Thanks for the tip man," Scud clapped him on the shoulder. "And for not busting us too bad."

"Ah yes," the man grinned "go and make memories." With a cheerful wave we left him and headed around the side of the building.

"Well now we're a little fucked," Scud whispered.

"How so?" I asked.

"He's gonna figure we had something to do with the whole you know empty vault thing."

"I doubt anyone is going to notice anything until the end of this all DEB convention."

"Hope so." Amy and Conner sat with the car idling at the curb; we climbed in and headed for the meet.

"Well that was fucked," Conner smiled. "How'd you talk your way out of there?"

"Pretended we were on our honeymoon," Scud answered, grinning and sliding an arm across my shoulders. "Works every time. Right honey?" I punched him in the chest, and he gasped for air.

"Don't ever grab my ass again."


	7. Chapter 7

Lyrics belong to Justin Timberlake "sexy back" I know I know, it's a retarded song, but it makes me wanna dance so what can you do?

: Come here girl, go ahead be gone with it,  
Come to the back, go ahead be gone with it,  
VIP, go ahead be gone with it,  
Drinks on me, go ahead be gone with it,  
You see what you working with, go ahead be gone with it,  
You make me smile, go ahead be gone with it:

"Where are we going?" I asked when it seemed like we had been driving for too long, Berlin rushing by us in a blur I might never see again.

"Tonight's meet is at a club," Conner answered, not taking her eyes from the road. "These two can wait in the car while we meet with Katia."

"No," Amy turned in her seat. "We are not waiting in the car. You are not taking Lucy in alone, and you are not running this show." The car sat silent tension growing; I glanced at Scud who was doing his best to be invisible.

"Who's running the show?" Conner finally asked.

"Lucy," Amy answered without a moment's hesitation, which I thought was pretty brave of her because I was fairly certain I was not running the show. My money was on Katia. Conner laughed.

"You two are pawns in all this. Little chess pieces getting moved around by Katia's skilled hand." As she spoke we pulled into a parking lot, and she put the car in park. "Katia has your friends sitting pretty on a massive explosive. Just remember that when you begin to think any of you are running the show." Amy glared at Conner the two of them seeming to battle with no words until Conner opened her door.

"We're coming," Amy stated again, quickly climbing out of the car. Scud and I scrambled to follow.

"Lucy," Conner spoke without looking back as we followed, hauling our bags.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"You're little helpers can come, but they wait in the main club when we hit the VIP room, got it."

"Whatever," I answered. Truth was I didn't see why Amy was making such a huge deal out of these meetings.

We strode into the club, past the VIP rope; the guard gave only a cursory to Conner before swinging the velvet rope wide open. He nodded as I passed, and I began to remember how great this kind of treatment was. Being a high end criminal is a sort of fame in itself, lots of brushing elbows with celebrities and all that, the club owners don't care where the moneys coming from as long as it lines their pockets.

At the juncture of club, and access to VIP room Conner waved Amy and Scud away, motioning with her head for me to follow her. As we stepped inside the room we were immediately handed champagne. I smiled taking it gratefully and sipping greedily at it, yes I missed this life. Conner smiled back at me, the first non sarcastic smile I had seen on her.

"That was a really good plan tonight, sorry if I got a bit of attitude about it." Conner shouted over the music.

"It's okay," I nod, shocked that she's being so….so….god I wanna say nice. "My plans can come off a bit reckless."

"Yeah," she laughed. "They made us study you back in first year at the DEBS academy. Played you off to be some sort of criminal mastermind who didn't think first, and got mostly lucky."

"Oh, there's a fair amount of luck," I answered, as we sat in a booth. The champagne was good, and I could already feel it going to my head a bit. I glanced around. "Where's Katia?"

"She should be here soon. She had nothing but good things to say about you."

"Right," I laughed. A barely noticeable hand switched our empty glasses for full ones.

"Well okay," she smiled. "It's not like she loves you, but she respects you, knows you know your shit."

"That I'd believe we fucked her good down in Florida. How did you end up with her anyway?"

"Like I said, she made a better offer," she shrugged.

"Which was?"

"Money," I turned as Katia spoke, seeing her standing over us with a smile of her face, flanked by the same muscle men as before. "The DEBS don't pay that well. Do you have my stuff?"

"Yeah," I handed her my bags, and Conner handed hers over. Katia sat glancing into each bag with an ever growing grin.

"You do good work Diamond," she smiled over at me. "You are wasted in a fishing village with the DEB."

"I'm doing just fine," I bristled.

"Yes, fine," she laughed. "You should be doing well, more than well. You could stay on in my place when I am gone."

"Fuck off," I grabbed my refilled glass of champagne, not really remembering the second one.

"Yes," she smiled. "I know your answer is no, but I must continue to try to bring you back into the fold. It's my way."

"Don't worry I'll take over for you," Conner smiled, Katia gave her a look I read as not quite supportive of that idea.

"Can I have my payment," I asked.

"Yes," she handed me another piece of the puzzle, and I pocketed it quickly.

"Where to next?" I glanced at Katia.

"England, I hope you are ready for a challenge."

"Nothing a challenge," I answered with a smile, draining my glass of champagne. "We will see you there. Same time?"

"Yes," Conner nodded.

"You sure you won't stay?" Katia asked sweetly. "Have a little fun for a change."

"I need to get back to my girlfriend," I answered with no politeness.

"Walk her out," Katia ordered Conner, who jumped up, stumbling a little from the bubbly, she lead me back to the door of the club.

"You know there are more fun DEBS out there," she smiled, leaning toward me a bit.

"Not for me," I pushed her away slipping into the club, not in the mood to be hit on by some wanna be badass just looking to score with the queen of bad. That life was over for me, over for me, I had to say it twice to remind myself. She could go get in Katia's pants if she wanted to walk on the wild side.

"How'd it go?" Amy asked hugging me.

"Good," I grinned, handing the piece to Scud, who nodded and slipped it in his pocket.

"Have you been drinking?" Amy asked.

"Yeah, and I think we need more, not like any of us are driving." Scud grinned and I waved at the bartender.

"Are you sure?" Amy asked, looking unsure about drinking.

"I am sure," Scud answered, ordering three shots when the bartender showed up.

"Babe, let's have fun," I pulled her close to me, kissing her just hard enough to make her forget everything else.

"Okay," she smiled when I let her go. We did the shots Scud had ordered and headed for the dance floor. I pulled her close, dancing against her; glad for the moment to be far from home, in a club where no one knew us, and for a few hours we could maybe forget everything else that was happening.

I pulled her closer, loving the feel of her against me, laughing as Scud came up from behind her, dancing like the crazy white boy he is. Amy laughed, falling closer into me; I fell in love with her smile all over again. I shoved Scud away, watching as he fell back toward the bar, settling onto a stool. The music slowed just enough to be considered sexy, and I was very aware of Amy against me and the alcohol inside me, all of it combining to make me want her more then I ever had.

"We should go," I whispered in her ear.

"What about Scud?" She asked. I glanced over at him; he was nursing a beer, looking wicked depressed all of a sudden. I noticed we were not the only people coupling up.

"I think he wouldn't mind getting out of her," I answered softly, pulling her from the dance floor.

Scud rode in silence back to the hotel, me and Amy holding hands, but trying not to be too obviously couple like. I gave Scud a quick unplanned hug, and he mumbled good night, leaving the lobby. Amy glanced at me as we stepped into the elevator, as soon as the doors shut completely, I shoved her to the wall, kissing her and sliding my hands under her shirt.

The elevator dinged and we sprung apart, glancing up I realized we had reached our floor, and pulled her out after me. We stumbled down the hall, hands roaming discreetly as we could, fumbling open the door, and stumbling to the bed for the second time in our stay. I practically tore off my shirt, but she stopped me from lifting off hers.

"Hold on I got you something."

"What?" I asked sitting back a bit, pushing hair from my face. With a quick smile she dug in her pocket pulling out a pair of dangle teardrop diamond earrings.

"Oh wow," I took them gently. "Where did you get these?"

"The vault," she answered with a grin.

"Well look at the master criminal," I smiled, slipping in the earrings. "My mom used to have a pair like these," I smiled.

"You look beautiful babe," she leant in kissing me softly at first, but soon the passion took over, and clothing was falling off quickly, and we were having sex, and I was again thinking how nothing could be better then this.


	8. Chapter 8

Lyrics belong to Three doors down "Landing in London"

: And all these days i spend away  
Ill make up for this i swear  
I need your love to hold me up  
When its all too much to bear

And when the night falls in around me  
I dont think ill make it through  
Ill use your light to guide the way  
Cause all I think about is you:

England. I kinda hate England, everyone sounds almost Australian and it pisses me off, especially when I had to get up way to early, and am still feeling a bit hung over. And I hate our pilot, he practically was pulling the plane away as we stumbled down onto the tarmac. I shove hair out of my face, leaning my face against the cool glass of the taxi window.

"How you feeling?" Scud asked with a grin.

"Like champagne is evil." I answered seriously. "There was no reason to be here this early."

"Well at least we have plenty of time to do tourist stuff," Amy smiled with far too much enthusiasm.

"Great climb the tower of London when I feel like I was date raped last night," I answered, shutting my eyes.

"Can't play with the big kids anymore?" Scud laughed.

"I can hurt you." I answered with a pointed glare.

"Testy much," he mutters crossing his arms and sinking down into the seat a bit.

"You okay?" Amy asks, touching my arm gently.

"Fine," I answer, using my most I am no fine voice, which Amy recognizes and looks unconvinced.

"Babe," she looks worriedly at me.

"I'm fine," again totally not fine, really fucking pissed off for some reason. Kinda horny too, I frown at the odd combination of feelings, thinking it over the rest of the quiet ride to the hotel.

"You know if my girlfriend wasn't in danger of being blown up this would be a totally kick ass trip," Scud announces as he kicks back in the lounge chair by the pool. I nod, very much enjoying a sunny day by the pool. "So what's going on in your head Luce?"

"Nothing," I answer, still in a rough mood. I watch as Amy orders us drinks, and wonder if she's hitting on the guy. The mentally punch myself for thinking that.

"Luce," Scud gives me a look, and I return it.

"I hate when you call me that. How the controller coming?"

"Good, I think if we have a few more pieces we may be able to replicate it without waiting for Katia to give it all to us. I've been in contact with Billy, and he."

"Miss's your D&D nights?" I smirked.

"Ha ha, shut up. The case she gave us has a serial number should match to the bomb type, which is of course strictly government confidential information."

"So of course Billy has access to all of it."

"Of course," Scud grinned. "Anyway if he gets a match then we can get parts and no more crispy fried DEBS."

"If Janet heard you joking," I shook my head.

"I joke," he shrugged. "It's what I do, if I didn't I might go crazy worrying about all this."

"Do you think Amy likes him?" I ask, and Scuds mouth about hits the floor.

"What?" He asks.

"The bartender, she looks like she's flirting," why the hell am I asking Scud, he'll be on her side.

"Lucy, if anyone was gonna cheat it would be you, Amy doesn't have it in her," he's got an unsure smile on his face. I glare, standing up.

"Fuck off, I wouldn't cheat on her if she wasn't always looking like she was about to cheat on me," I turned heading back to the room.

"Lucy," Scud started to follow me.

"Just stay here, I'm taking a nap you two can go do the tourist shit if you want, I'll meet you at the headquarters." I didn't look back as I left the pool area. So ungodly pissed off at those two right now, always getting me dragged into this shit, just to keep some fucking DEBS safe.

I was still mulling over all this as I stepped out of the elevator and headed for the room. I noticed someone in the hallway, but didn't pay much attention until I was almost to the room. I froze for a second, unsure why Conner was standing outside our room.

"Conner?" I gave her my most withering look, which wasn't hard with all the anger I had going on at the moment.

"Oh, Lucy," Conner smiled a wining sort of smile I hadn't seen before. "I just came by to drop of the bags." Okay that seemed a bit lame, but I let it slide.

"Thanks," I took the bags and pushed past her into the room, dropping my towel, and heading to the dresser in my black bikini. Yeah I was trying to impress, whatever nice to have someone look at me that way, since Amy wasn't anymore.

"You okay?" Conner asked from the doorway.

"Fine," I answered she was silent, but I could feel her watching. "Could you please leave so I can change?"

"Sure," she was smirking at me.

"What?" I asked.

"You're so not fine."

"You don't know me."

"Sure I do," she stepped into the room, letting the door shut, and leaning back on the bed. "You're a wolf that's been strapped into being a lapdog, and you really need to be cut loose. Come out with me."

I thought this over, and it was so tempting. Just the smile Conner was giving me told me it would be a wild ride, come out with me, wasn't that pretty much what I first said to Amy to get her to go out with me? I broke eye contact with Conner.

"I can't." I answered.

"Your loss," she shrugged, heading for the door. "See you tonight." I watched the door shut behind her, then stepped into the bathroom, slamming the door and locking it, fighting every temptation to follow her, to step back into that life, I felt like I was fighting everything inside me, going against what my body wanted, trying to push down what I knew was irrational anger at Amy. I slid down the door, feeling the tears a few minutes later.

I don't know how long I sat there, but there was a knock on the door, I yelled at whoever it was to go away, knowing it was probably Amy. I felt like I was going crazy, and couldn't begin to think about facing her, I wasn't sure what I would do if I left the bathroom, what I would say that I didn't mean, or where I would go that I didn't want to.


	9. Chapter 9

Okay everyone sorry the chapters are short and slow coming. Stupid life keeps getting in the way of my free time. Anyway here's another chapter, and I will try not to leave you hanging before I go on vacation next week. Lyrics belong to way out west from "mindcircus"

: Almost  
Ready to drift now  
And I feel myself slipping inside you  
Just a little bit further  
Before something drags me back  
So close, I thought I nearly had you there:

I finally moved stiffly to the bedroom just in time to dress slowly

and make my way to the lobby. Amy and Scud stood when they saw me, Amy

reached for me, but I pulled my arm away.

"Let's go," I brushed past them, and headed for a taxi, slipping into the backseat. Amy slid in beside me while Scud climbed in the front.

"Lucy?" Amy gave a look of concern.

"Let's just get this done," I tried to ignore her pained expression. We got out in front of the DEBS building and glanced around for Conner, who smiled and waved at me. I gave her a tight smile.

"We ready for this?" Conner asked.

"I know the layout, vaults on the first floor, back right corner." Amy confirmed.

"Good," Conner nodded. "I got the vault code from a guy today."

"That doesn't sound legal," Amy glared.

"Well he may have lost a finger," Conner grinned at me. "That was the fun part."

"Sure," Amy's voice was cold.

"Well the code should make this easier." Scud offered.

"Thanks brain trust, I hadn't thought of that," Conner pushed her way past them. I followed, holding in a smirk, Amy fell into step beside me trying to take my hand, but I pulled away from her, catching up to Conner.

"Good afternoon?" She asked.

"Not if you know the definition of good."

"Shoulda come with," she gave me a sideways grin. "Trust me; I know how to have a good time."

"Cutting of fingers isn't exactly my idea of big fun."

"Guess you're not doing it right then. There a back door here?" She asked Amy over her shoulder.

"Most buildings have one," the sarcasm rolled off her tongue, Conner just smirked.

"Right then," Conner led the way around back of the building where we were greeted with a long blank wall, no door.

"Most buildings have one," mocked Conner.

"I'll check the side," Scud jogged to the end of the building and turned back with a shake of his head. "No doors."

"So we go through the front door," Amy nodded.

"Not fucking likely," I answered, and promptly hauled off and elbowed out a panel of the nearest window, I had reached in and thrown the latch almost before the alarms began blaring.

"We gotta go," Amy tugged at my arm, but I pushed her off, sending her stumbling back a couple feet.

"I'm doing this," I lifted the window and climbed inside, seconds later Conner was crawling in after me, bright smile on her face. I glanced back out the window; Scud and Amy were exchanging looks. "Just go get the car then, we don't need you slags anyway." Amy looked pissed, I thought she might have something to reply, but she turned pulling Scud after her.

"What's a slag?" I heard him ask before I turned and sprinted after Conner. We sped through the halls, making quick turns hurrying in the direction the vault should be. Finally I saw it at the end of the hall; Conner was already punching in the code to the digital pad. She swung the door open as I reached her, I tossed her a bag.

"Fuck, I only have two bags," I growled, stuffing stacks on hundreds into the bag.

"Go for small and valuable, stuff your pockets," Conner yelled over the alarm. I grabbed a handful of loose gems, dropping them in the pockets.

"Let's go!" Conner tugged on my arm, spinning me from the piles of goodies, and we hauled back down the hallway, headed for the already broken window. Conner skidded to a stop, "fuck this." She stopped lifting another window; we crawled through and sprinted down the alley, Conner in the lead till we reached the car, sirens blaring past us as we climbed in, Scud and Amy were nowhere to be seen.

"Where's the kids?" Conner asked with a half smile.

"Tucked in safe I hope," I answered with my own smile. "Where's the meet?"

"Katia's hotel."

"Let's go."

Conner weaved through traffic in the rented car like it was an extension of her soul; I was busy admiring her driving and hardly noticed as we pulled up to the hotel. We climbed out handing the keys to the valet, and heading inside. Conner led us to an elevator, and pressed for the honeymoon suite. Katia sat alone on a huge couch when we entered, she smiled over at us, waving us over, motioning to glasses of champagne, which we both picked up, drinking happily.

"This is a good job," Katia smiled as Conner and I emptied our pockets, me smiling at the feel of a handful of precious gems still hidden in my pocket, I handed Conner my glass for a refill.

"How can you walk away from this?" Katia asked, motioning to the pile of cash and treasure on the table in front of us.

"Things change," I answered with a shrug.

"The sex is good?" Katia asked with a smirk.

"It is," I nodded, returning her look.

"And as a crime lord it was not?" Katia asked. I paused for a moment, thinking of all the men and women I had turned down in my time.

"It could have been," I admitted with a nod.

"Conner would sleep with you," Katia smiled evilly, I glanced at Conner who only grinned at me.

"Not really my type," I turned finishing my champagne, and standing. "Where to next?"

"Japan. Those girls are beautiful. Are they your type?"

"Amy's my type," I answered, heading for the door. All of a sudden all I could think about was how stupid I had been, Amy was everything I ever wanted, I had given up everything for her and she had down the same for me. I flagged down a taxi, and spent the whole ride twitchy with anticipation.

I was going to apologize, let her know I had been off, we'd talk all night. Okay not all night, we were going to have fantastic sex all night, sleep it off on the plane tomorrow. The elevator took too long to arrive so I sprinted up the stairs and down the hall to our room. I opened it, seeing Amy's dark form on the balcony. I used all my will not to run to her. I dipped my head down, kissing her neck gently.

"I'm so sorry," I murmured. "I love you." And she pushed me away; the fucking bitch pushed me away.

"Lucy, we need to talk."

"Why?" I scowled.

"Um, because you've been acting like a crazy person."

"Define crazy?" I asked, heading back into the room. Before she could join me I slammed shut the balcony door, locking her outside.

"Lucy," she banged on the window. "Let me in, let's talk."

"What?" I lifted my hand to my ear, being an asshole. "Can't hear you, tell you what, I'll just talk. You say I've been crazy, but you're the one fucking around, trying to get in everyone's pants, and acting like I'm the fucking villain. So no, fuck you Amy, stay out there." I pulled shut the curtains, turning my back on her, a black figure lunged at me, cracking me in the side of my skull; I crumbled to the floor, passing out just after realizing the black figure was Scud.


	10. Chapter 10

Lyrics belong to S club 7 (because they cant be in England and NOT hear s club 7) lol from the song "don't stop movin"

: Forget about your fears tonight  
Listen to your heart  
Let's just touch the sky  
No need to reason why  
Just listen to the sound  
Let it make you come alive:

"She is so going to kill us," Amy's voice filtered through the layers a dark around my head. I still couldn't quite push myself to consciousness, but I was able to hear her and Scud in a muffled fashion.

"It's a possibility," he agreed. "We just have to tell her the truth about what's going on."

"Are we even sure?" I knew Amy well enough to know she would be giving him her worried face.

"Yes. It's gotta be stardust. Billy sent me all the research on it and everything matches perfect."

"Fuck you both," I slurred as they began to take shape.

"Lucy," Amy knelt next to me. "Are you alright?" She poked gently at the gash on the side of my head and I winced.

"As good as I can be after getting assaulted. What the hell is going on here?"

"We think Katia is drugging you," Amy answered, biting her lip.

"What?" I asked, shaking my head, hoping to clear it a bit, but only succeeding in sending lightning bolts of pain around my head.

"The way you've been acting," Scud added. "It's just a bit, how can I put this nicely. Bitchy."

"Yes I must be drugged then, it couldn't be because you are an idiot."

"Now see, I know that's the drugs so I'm not going to get mad."

"Whatever," I rolled my eyes. Amy set a print out on my lap and began flipping the pages for me since my arms were tied behind the chair.

"It's a government drug, classified as a weapon, top secret, so of course everyone is trying to get it. Citaphletamin, they're calling it stardust on the street."

"And this citaphlegm does what?" I asked, she was flipping too fast for me to read anything.

"Billy says in small quantities it gives you a feeling of euphoria similar to ecstasy. You feel a little down the next day, but nothing big," Scud answered.

"That's what's getting around in LA and New York City right now," Amy added.

"Right. But in larger quantities you get the even bigger sense of euphoria, but the next day you are past paranoia, out into crazy land thinking everyone in your life is out to get you. That how the government uses it, prisoners of war are spilling everything on the higher ups after a few doses."

"Huh." I nodded. This wasn't sounding totally retarded, I thought back over the last couple days how I had felt and it did all make a certain amount of sense. "So you think Katia's been feeding me ceta, cita…"

"Stardust, it's easier," Scud provided.

"Stardust? How would she have?"

"Um do any drinking with them?" Scud asked with a half grin.

"It's highly soluble, and undetectable even in water," Amy added.

"Fuck," I shook my head. "I am so sorry."

"It's okay," Amy rushed to assure me. "How are you feeling?"

"My head hurts, but I don't feel as angry as I did yesterday."

"Did you drink tonight?" Scud asked.

"One glass," they exchanged looks. "But I had at least three glasses when we were in Germany." I added.

"One dose probably wont effect you as much then," Scud nodded. "We should try to get some sleep. Where's the next meet?"

"Japan, Tokyo."

"We need to make a pit stop on the way there," Scud spoke with a shady grin.

"Why," I asked, narrowing my eyes.

"The info on stardust wasn't all Billy got us," Amy smiled.

"We got the specs on the detonator and bomb, we picked up the parts we needed today while you vacationed in the bathroom." I shot him a look and he broke out into a wide smile.

"Billy also found out where the DEBS are," Amy added.

"No shit?" I was honestly shocked, sure Billy could come through in a weapons deal, but helping the DEBS? I didn't think he had it in him. "What do we owe him?" I ask narrowing my eyes.

"Oh you'll love this," if it was possible, Scud grinned wider. "Billy saw Max on at a weapons deal a couple weeks ago."

"He had arranged to move some machine guns to rebels in Guam," Amy added with a scowl. I smiled back at her, my first real smile since Berlin, "you have great friends," she couldn't help but smile.

"Rebels need weapons too," Scud defended. "Anyway so anyway kid is crushing on Max bad. We promised him a date." The evil smiles they both wore were enough to make all the badness of the last twenty-four hours seem miles away.

"She is going to hate that," I spoke slowly, they both nodded. "You two are evil. I leave you with him for a day Amy and you're acting like a criminal."

"Hey, we are saving the DEBS, all of them, Max is going to owe us big," a smile played at the corner of Amy's lips, even though she was trying hard to keep a straight face.

"You're loving setting her up for this aren't you?" I asked.

"He plays dungeons and dragons!" She answered laughing.

"There is nothing wrong with that," Scud looked horrified. "It is a statigic game that helps build your… stratigacy for future crime, and or not crime," he added off Amy's look.

"Stratigacy?" I asked laughing. "Can you two please untie me so we can get out of here?"

The worked quickly and soon we were in a taxi to the airport, it was the middle of the night but that would work to our advantage getting the DEBS. I reached over, taking Amy's hand and squeezing it happily, everything was clear again, she was everything I needed, fuck Katia and fuck her little games.


	11. Chapter 11

Like I said I am going out of town soon, so I am just posting short chapters as I get them done. Enjoy!

Lyrics belong to Thousand Foot Krunch from the song "move"

: Look, listen to my voice  
If you're making the choice  
Tell me all the girls and the boys  
Either scream or rejoice  
Let's make that noise  
Either move or we will all be destroyed:

"Bratislava? The top secret meeting of DEBS is in Bratislava?" I asked as we stepped off the plane, just wanting to make sure Amy knew where she was. "Are the DEBS idiots? It's Katia's home town!"

"Well she hasn't been here in ages, and hello there was major criminals everywhere."

"Still seems like poor planning," I shrug watching as the earth grows closer to our small plane. Finally we touch down with a lot more bump then usual. Guess our friendly pilot wasn't too happy about being pulled out of bed. He wasn't so happy when we told him he was flying to Tokyo as soon as we are done here either.

"Well at least we found them," Amy answered as the plane slowed to a halt.

"And at least we will be outta here soon." I added with a nod.

"We are here," Antonia growled over the loudspeaker. We filed off the plane and into a waiting cab; even though it was the middle of the night he didn't question our destination.

"So we're just gonna walk in there?" Scud asked, looking less than convinced of the plan.

"Well we disable the bombs first, but yeah." I nodded; shutting the cab door and watching it pull away.

"And if Katia decides to over ride the command?" He raised an eyebrow.

"You heard Billy, she gave us the master key with that last chip," Amy reminded him. "We hold the overriding trigger."

"Billy's been wrong before," Scud sighed.

"We get in and get everyone out as fast as we can then, yeah?" I asked, clapping him on the shoulder, "less you aren't so eager to see Janet again."

"Oh I am more than eager," Scud assured us.

"So it's this button?" Amy asked, finger poised.

"According to Billy," I shrugged. "Give it a try, worst that can happen is all your friends explode and we are killed by falling debris." I gave Amy a reassuring smile as she looked back, mouth open at me.

"No pressure," Scud added with a grin.

"You both suck," she shook her head and pressed the button. It wasn't until nothing exploded that I realized how tense I had been.

"Now we go in?" Scud asked.

"Sure," I shrugged. "Be ready for guards. We strolled across the street, heading for the front door. As we got close a guard stepped out of the building, holding up a hand and walking toward us, speaking in Slovakian.

"Huh?" I asked. "We're American."

"You are to leave."

"But we were just going to take a quick look," I tried to step around him, he lifted his gun to my face, I held up my hands. "Okay, never mind. I turned to leave, but spun back around, knocking away the gun, and grabbing it. He stood there dumb long enough for me to come back around and slam the butt of the gun into his chin, he crumbled to the ground.

"One down," I smiled at the others.

"Thirty to go," Scud added, backing up as they both lifted guns. I turned ready to fire, thirty was an exaggeration, there were probably only twenty guards. I pulled the trigger, surprised as automatic fire ripped the barrel upwards so I only hit one guard, but he went down at least. I readjusted and swung the gun across the surging guards, cutting down another six before the bullets ran out. I dropped the weapon, pulling my own out as another guard reached me, he grabbed me and I kneed him in the groin, then in the face. Bullets whizzed by me in either direction, I heard Scud swear and his gun flew overhead, connecting solidly with a guard's head.

They were dropping like flies as Amy's expert shots cut them down quickly; a few stragglers retreated into the building, not bothering to shut the door behind them. I picked my way through the fallen bodies, lifting a couple guns and trying not to hurl, many of them were not dead, but must have been in deep pain. We stepped into the foyer of the great building, each of us holding at least two new guns.

"Any idea where they would be?" Scud whispered.

"I would say the convention room," Amy shrugged. "It would have been big enough and easier in there for the guards to watch." I nodded, glancing around for some sort of directory. Spotting one I quickly found the convention room.

Quickly, but quietly we hurried through the huge hotel till we reached the hall to the convention room. I motioned the others to stay, and leaned around the corner, I pulled back quickly a bullet brushing past and into the wall.

"Think we found it," I smiled back at Amy. "Cover me." I lifted another giant rapid fire gun, and hurried across to the other side of the hall, firing the whole time, hoping not to get myself hit. I saw a couple men fall, but most were fine and they were advancing. I readied myself and hurried back across firing again. This time I felt a tearing pain in my left shoulder, bullet lodging itself there. I dropped the gun, to heavy to carry now.

"Fuck fuck fuck," I grit my teeth, pressing hard on the wound. I watched Scud lean around firing twice and sliding back to cover.

"Five still standing," he told Amy. "We got this?"

"Got it," Amy nodded. I think I blacked out, next thing I know Scud was shaking me and telling me they guards were all down. I punched him with my good arm.

"That hurts!" I yelled, gripping my shoulder, new pain burning from the shaking.

"Oh, sorry," he apologized, helping me up by my good arm. He supported me as we hurried after Amy who was already opening the door. I saw her face light up and knew we had found them.

"Amy?" A voice squealed and Janet flung herself at Amy, wrapping her arms around her neck. "Oh my god, I knew you would find us. Scud!" She jumped to Scud, and he let me go, I fell back against the wall feeling woozy.

"Lucy Diamond, you come through for the good guys again," Max was sauntering towards me, almost looking happy to see me.

"Amy made me," I slurred.

"Miss Diamond wonderful to see you again," that Petrie woman was walking towards me, I tried to nod, but the world was spinning dangerously.

"Jesus, Lucy," I heard Janet gasp. I glanced at my arm, surprised to see it covered in red paint.

"Oh," blood, not paint.

"Fuck she's shot loosing blood fast," Max pulled off her sweatshirt, pressing it to my shoulder, I smiled over at her, taking in her toned arms and thinking I must be out of it to be thinking she was hot. "Why the hell are you smiling?" Max asked.

"You are going to have the best date ever," I answered, my legs seeming to be pulled out from under me as I collapsed to the ground and the world went black for the second time in less than twenty-four hours.


	12. Chapter 12

Back from vacation and ready to get this finished! Hang on guys we're running the final laps. Lyrics belong to Utada Hikaru's song "Colors"

: Aoi sora ga mieru nara aoi kasa hirogete  
Ii ja nai ka KYANPASU wa kimi no mono  
Shiroi hata wa akirameta toki ni dake kazasu no  
Ima wa makka ni sasou tougyuushi no you ni:

I woke slowly seeming to fumble up to consciousness to find an unfamiliar ceiling above me, and a soft bed below me. I shoved myself up with my left hand and whimpered as pain so white hot seared through me I collapsed back down, immediately covered in a cold sweat.

"Lucy," I opened my eyes to see Amy leaning over me with concern in her eyes, she moped at my forehead and I smiled lamely.

"Hey," I croaked. "What happened?"

"You were shot in the shoulder."

"That would explain the pain," I winced.

"You can have more pain killers now, you were out for so long we got worried."

"How long was I out?" I asked, slowly pushing myself up with my right arm, then leaning against the head board.

"A little over twenty four hours."

"Fuck," I swore. "And the meet with Katia?"

"Scud got it shoved back."

"How?" I asked just as there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," Amy called. The door opened and Scud pushed in, followed by Janet, Dominique and Max.

"How's the arm?" Max asked leaning on the dresser.

"Arms good," I nodded. "Shoulder hurts like a bitch." I was rewarded with faint grins from everyone.

"You going to feel up to a meet with Katia?" Scud asked from the sofa with Dominique and Janet.

"Not at all. How did you get the meet pushed back anyway?" I asked,

"Scud was the one who convinced her," Janet gushed, squeezing his arm.

"I just played into their plan," Scud shrugged, blushing a little. "I told her you and Amy had a huge fight and you disappeared and we wouldn't be here till tonight.

"Brilliant," Janet gushed.

"You are sickening me," Dominique stood shoving out onto a balcony and lighting a cigarette. She turned her back to us reminding me of a cat. I turned back to the others.

"So what's the plan? When do we head to Japan?"

"We're in Japan already," Amy answered.

"We hauled your sleeping ass to the hospital, on a plane, off a plane, and to the hotel," Max expanded. "So your sorry ass better be ready to do this thing tonight."

"I'll be ready," I nodded. "Amy, you mentioned pain killers?" She handed me two pills and a glass of water, I slugged them down and stood shakily. "This hotel better have room service."

A double cheeseburger and fries later we were going over the plan. I leaned over the table setting back down the building plan, looking up expectantly at Max. Scud was still munching his fries while she explained the game plan.

"Now we've had some of the guys keep in touch with Katia via her own phones, so she should still believe we are all under wraps."

"Sounds good, but you don't think she knows her own goons voices?"

"She doesn't operate like you," Max shook her head.

"She seems to have brought in a lot of outside talent for this deal," Janet added.

"So she just thought our men were guys she didn't know. She shouldn't see this coming," Amy finished with a smile.

"Right, we have a small recon team there now." Max nodded. "So we hit this as planned, only we'll have the whole building surrounded for when you come out.

"Sounds like it could work," I frowned, moving my aching shoulder a bit. "And if they have figured us out?"

"Lucy," Max gave me a withering look. "No offense, but we've pretty much covered this while u were out."

"Fine, whatever," I grumbled sipping at my diet coke not feeling like arguing, and wishing Amy and I had never been involved in this. Amy put an arm around me kissing my good shoulder, I leant my head against hers and zoned out the rest of the conversation.

"You gonna be okay?" Scud asked helping me from the car. I nodded, gritting my teeth hoping not to let anyone watching know my shoulder was a definite weak point.

"There's Conner," I tilted my head to her, and we angled ourselves towards her, she had seen us but was running in the opposite direction.

"What the hell?" Scud asked, starting after her at a trot. Before he had even crossed the street DEBS Tokyo headquarters erupted in an explosion so strong it knocked us all to the ground. I cried out as the fall jarred my shoulder.

"Lucy!" Amy cried, she crawled to me, covering my head with her body as debris rained around us.

Finally after my ears began to ring, and I realized I was no longer deafened by the explosion, Amy pushed herself away from me, standing slowly. Aching I pushed myself to a sitting position surveying the area, around us people were stirring, but worse some weren't stirring.

"Scud!" Amy cried, hurrying towards him. I managed to shove myself up and followed her to where Scud was sitting up, leg pinned by a large piece of cement over his foot.

"Feels a little broken," he hissed, clenching his teeth.

"Lucy can you help?" Amy asked. I nodded and with my good arm I helped her free his foot, we helped him up and began to hobble down the street. I tried to stay focused straight ahead, not wanting to see those around us.

A van screeched to a halt at the edge of the debris ten feet in front of us. Max jumped out almost before they stopped grabbing Scud and helping drag him to the van, where Janet hauled him in quickly tending to his foot.

"Lucy move your ass!" Max yelled pulling me into the van, slamming the sliding door as the van peeled out. For a few moments we were all silent.

"Tell me someones coming to help those people," Amy tried to sound calm, but I could hear her anger.

"We've got a secondary team running back up," Max nodded curtly.

"Glad you had that all figured out," I coughed, dust still clinging to my lungs.

"Shut up," Max hissed.

"Shut up?" I laughed a bit. "I told you she was going to know, and now my best friends foot is broken."

"It is only the toe," Dominique spoke with out looking up. "He is a big baby."

"Toe or foot, you still fucked this up, Max."

"You think I don't know that?" She yelled spinning and putting her face in mine. "Yeah I made a shitty call, I was pissed off and got cocky, and Scuds toe got broken. You know what else?" I shook my head swallowing.

"Four people in my teams, girls I sent into that building were killed." Now the silence in the van was deafening. She turned stalking away to flop into a seat, head in her hands.

"I'm sorry, Max," I spoke softly. "I shouldn't have."

"No, you should have. You should have I didn't listen." The bus was silent for a moment before Max's radio chirped.

"Team three to team one."

"Yeah," Max spoke briskly.

"We have a flight plane for the target."

"Copy that. Destination?" Max asked.

"St. Petersburg, Russia."

"Out," Max dropped the radio onto the seat next to her. "At least we know something," she sighed.

"St. Petersburg here we come then," Scud nodded. I smiled at him, and nodded as well.

"We'll stop them Max," I assured her.

"Thanks," the grateful look she gave me almost made me regret all the animosity between us. She slid open the glass separating us from the driver and gave hurried directions for the airport, I hung onto Amy as the van did a quick u turn. Everything in me knowing that it was time to finish this.


	13. Chapter 13

Lyrics belong to Tatu from the song Dangerous and moving.

: Obstacles and signs  
Perilous and looming  
Dangerous and moving  
Dangerous and moving:

I woke feeling stiff but comfortable in the absolutely luxury suite the DEBS had booked. We were currently in the penthouse suite of some swank Russian hotel, and Amy, was currently very naked next to me. I pulled back the covers to expose her naked back, running my hand up the curve of her side, and kissing the nape of her neck. She stirred a bit, but didn't wake. My shoulder ached a bit, but nothing too painful, Amy rolled over lazily smiling up at me before pulling me into a deep kiss.

The bedroom door slammed open and we sprang apart each clutching sheets to our chests. Scud stood, hand over eyes, door wide open, Janet open mouthed behind him.

"Scud, what the fuck?" I asked, anger and embarrassment flushing my skin.

"Sorry," he still didn't look. "Katia and Conner are on the move, they just lead a team into the DEBS headquarters here."

"What?" Amy asked, hoping out of the bed and pulling the sheet with her, I scrambled to pull the quilt up to cover me.

"Yeah, get dressed," Scud shut the door. I jumped out of the bed, following Amy's example of speed dressing, slowed only a bit by my shoulder as I pulled on my shirt.

"What the hell is she doing?" Amy asked, leading us to the common area.

"They know we're on to them," I shrugged. "I didn't really think she'd go the daylight route, but that woman's a little psychotic so it makes sense."

"Perfect sense," Max added, tossing guns to Amy and me. I checked to make sure mine was loaded, and slipped it in the band of my pants. We followed Max's lead, the others joining us as we piled into a van.

The door was barely shut when the van pealed out we all grabbed hold as it tore into traffic, horn blaring to warn the other drivers. Max glanced over a building plan, then picked up the radio.

"Base, what's the status?" Her voice was curt, all business.

"Subjects are on the move, headed for the water."

"Do we have a boat?"

"Affirmative, south docks, slip eight," the voice answered through the static.

"Got it, ETA five minutes."

It was less then five minute's before a shout came from the front of the van, our driver, Lynn called back to us in excitement eyes wide behind thick glasses.

"Max, I have a visual," she smiled over her shoulder, Max knelt to check.

"That she can see anything is a miracle," Dominique huffed, I smirked.

"Confirm visual?" Janet asked.

"Yep," Max answered, spinning back around. "Lynn keep them in visual. Dom, how's your boat handling these days?" Dominique gave her a distaining look, which clearly said the question was insulting. "Right then," Max nodded.

"What's the plan?" Amy asked, grabbing me as the van took a sharp turn and sped up.

"Lynn dumps us at the south docks, and continues following to give us a description. Lucy, any thoughts?"

"Uh, sounds good," I answered, shocked that she had asked.

"South dock approaching," Lynn yelled back.

"Max, get a contingency unit on back up for if they don't head to water," I shouted.

"Got it on back up already," she nodded. "Everyone get ready." The van slowed just enough for us to leap out without killing ourselves. Scud tumbled, but righted himself quickly, as we ran down the dock I rubbed my shoulder, the jarring landing had brought tears to my eyes.

"There, slip eight," Amy pointed and we all hurried along.

"This?" I asked with disgust, the boat was huge, not made for high speed chases.

"It's what we got," Max shrugged, starting to untie, the group started jumping in."

"Targets are onboard an orange cigar boat, heading for open water,"

Lynn's voice crackled from Max's radio.

"Max we'll never catch them," I warned.

"Well what do you want me to do?" She snapped. I glanced around, spotting another cigar boat a few slips down.

"Scud!" I called, waving for him to follow, I heard him scrambled up behind me, and his feet pounding on the dock as we made our way to the other boat.

"What's up?" Scud asked as I hopped onto the boat.

"Gotta get a better ride," I answered, catching a glimpse of the others running up the dock towards us.

A man came up from below yelling in Russian, and waving his arms, clearly wanting me off his boat. I pulled my gun on him, keeping it trained on him. He froze for a moment and then began yelling again. Abruptly he stopped, raising his arms and looking past me. I turned to see the whole group, guns trained on him; Max waved her gun, motioning him off.

"Let's go," I yelled as the man hurried off. Dominique stepped to the wheel as we began unties the lines. She backed it up slowly, then sped out of the harbor much faster then was safe.

"Anyone see anything?" Amy asked.

"There!" Janet pointed to our left, Dominique turned that way, and we closed in fast.

"Oh, they saw us," Scud yelled as the boat in front of us sped up.

"Shoot them?" He asked.

"Not if we can capture them alive," Max called back.

"Uh, Max, those your people?" I asked, pointing to a helicopter pulling in low over us. She glanced up; shading her eyes, and swore.

"No," she called as gunfire splattered the water around us as the helicopter got nearer, Dominique fell back a bit, allowing some more space between us and Katia, the helicopter overhead flew closer to their boat, a rope ladder unfurling down.

"Get the helicopter!" Max ordered and we opened fire. I don't know who hit it, but the blades froze and the helicopter dove in and uncontrolled tail spin, crashing onto Katia's boat.

There were a couple seconds of silence, and a few small flames, we watched as Katia and her people jumped ship just before the explosion rocked us all. Dominique had let our boat fall way back, but the heat from the explosion still seemed like enough to singe our hair off.

"We have survivors," Max announced as the fire died a bit. Dominique steered the boat forward slowly. I recognized Conner's red hair and reached down, with Scuds help we got her onto the boat. Immediately Scud began mouth the mouth, hand cuffing Conner just as she started coughing up water.

We continued this way until we had six prisoners on board, none of them Katia. We all stood by Dominique, searching for any sign of her. Finally Max shook her head.

"Let's go back," she sat in the copilot seat. I nodded, sitting on the edge of the boat.

"She could be anywhere," my head was jerked backwards as Janet spoke, I found myself feet over head, landing in the water with jarring force, something still wrapped in my hair. I kicked wildly as I began to panic, darkness closing in, one foot connected to something and I was free, kicking to the surface.

"Lucy," Amy screamed. "Behind you!" I spun, seeing Katia leaping for me, I managed to get a bit out of her way, but she grabbed my bad shoulder. I cried out and whipped my hand around, slamming her in the side of the head, she let go. I kicked away a bit, but she caught my foot, dragging us both under. I shoved my palm in her face, finger feeling for her eyes, the shoving with no mercy until she let go again, this time I concentrated on putting distance between us.

I heard something like a shot, and saw Katia scream, clutching the cord that disappeared under the water in front of her. She screamed louder as Max pulled on the cord tugging her closer.

"Lucy," Amy and Janet waved me over, I swam unsteadily back to the boat and let them pull me on board; Amy wrapped me in a towel. I sat shivering, but feeling feverish with pain as the hauled an unconscious Katia onboard, spear gun short straight through the meat of her thigh. They handcuffed her quickly and spun the boat back toward shore.


	14. Chapter 14

Lyrics belong to Nickelback from the song "Saving me" this is the end guys sorry it's not as long as the first one, I just don't have it in me this time around.

:Show me what it's like  
To be the last one standing  
And teach me wrong from right  
And I'll show you what I can be  
Say it for me  
Say it to me  
And I'll leave this life behind me  
Say it if it's worth saving me:

Back at the fucking airport.

As the car crawled slowly forward I wondered for the thousandth time what the hell we were thinking. Amy ducked out of traffic sliding into a parking spot miles close then I would have thought possible. With a deep breath I got out of the car.

"You ready for this?" Amy asked taking my hand.

"Nope," I shook my head. "Are we crazy?"

"No, we're good people doing the right thing." She squeezed my hand. "Come on." We crossed the busy street at a jog, stepping inside the cool welcome area of the airport.

"How was the meeting with Markus yesterday?" I asked.

"It went well; DEBS took him off the wanted list of all the major agencies. Being a free man seems to agree with him."

"He's a strange one," I shook my head.

"He hasn't left that boat in four years, I think you'd be a bit odd too," she smiled, glancing at her watch. "We better hurry."

Angling left we followed the directions Max had emailed and found ourselves in a back hallway of the airport. Third door from the left I knocked quickly and waited. Scud opened with a grin.

"Hey!" He pulled me into a hug, tugging me aside so Amy could move in. She hugged Janet quickly.

"How have you been?" Amy asked.

"Good! The trial went great," Janet answered excitedly.

"Yeah, we won't be seeing Katia or Conner for a long time," Max agreed with a smug smile.

"Good to hear," I nodded. "You want to fill us in on the plan here?"

"Subject arrives at two ten, we'll be on point here, here, and here," she pointed at different spots on a layout of the arrivals area.

"Looks clean," Amy nodded in approval. "Any back up?"

"We have a team ready in a car to follow and for extra guard detail if necessary. There shouldn't be a problem," Max answered.

"Are you sure you want to get into this?" Janet asked, looking truly concerned. "It's not the safest job."

"Like you ever give us safe jobs," I answered rolling my eyes. "Amy's got her heart set on doing this."

"She should not use it to think," Dominique answered scornfully. "It will only get you both in trouble."

"Don't I know it," I answered, receiving a smack on the arm from Amy.

"We'll be fine," she spoke firmly.

"Time to roll kids," Max spoke glancing at her clock. "You sure your mans on point for this?"

"I'm sure he's got the subject," I answered.

"Yeah he wouldn't wanna piss you off," Scud smirked.

We filed down the hallway and to arrivals gate six. Max and the others separated from us, leaving us on point. Amy squeezed my hand, glancing nervously around, then biting her lip as passengers began to unload from the gate.

"Calm down," I whispered, kissing her cheek.

"Sorry," she answered. "Do you see him?"

"No," I answered. "But Billy's got him."

"Are you sure. I mean this is going to be a huge mess if something went wrong."

"He's got him."

"How do you know?" She asked for the first time sounding like she maybe regretted taking this on.

"There," I pointed. Billy's curly head stuck out a bit, and we readied ourselves. I glanced around, checking that Max and the others were in place if anything got messed up. Billy separated from the crowd, a tight grip on the subject who looked mournfully at us.

"Hey Michal," Amy crouched to his level; he hid his face on Billy's leg.

"How was the trip, big guy?" I asked, holding out a hand.

"Was good," he answered his accent already starting to disappear after a week with Billy. "Was he good?" I asked Billy as Michal took my hand and we began to walk.

"The kids an angel. Bet he was glad to get outa that foster home."

"She went to great lengths to keep him hidden," Amy marveled. "It took the whole LA group to find him."

"We will see mommy?" Michal asked hopefully.

"Nope," I answered with a shake of my head.

"Maybe someday sweetie," Amy answered, elbowing me for my quick response. "Mommy had to go away so we are going to take care of you now, okay?" Michal nodded.

Max met us at the car, a team in place to follow us back to the house, then to remain on twenty-four hour watch for the next six months while we determined if anyone was going to try to take Michal. Hopefully with reprogramming he wouldn't remember anything he witnessed with his mother.

"Billy," she gave him a curt nod.

"Hi," Billy answered with a wide grin. "Oh!" Out of his bag he pulled a slitly wilted bunch of flowers handing it to her. Max took it with a look like it might bite her.

"Uh, thanks," she tried.

"I got tickets to a show for tonight," Billy continued earnestly. I don't know if you like _Phantom of the Opera _or not, and if you don't we can do something else.

"I love it," Max answered, her voice softening. "My mother used to play the soundtrack.

"Great!" Billy grinned. "Um I'll pick you up at seven."

"Yeah. Sounds good," Max tried to keep up her original distain of the idea, but it was clear the theater tickets had swayed her. I finished buckling Michal in and stepped back.

"Say bye," I instructed. Michal waved, looking more then a little confused, which I couldn't blame him.

"Dinner Sunday before you all head back?" Amy asked as I slid into the car.

"Count on it," Max nodded.

"I'll be there," Billy nodded. "Take care of him, he's alright for a kid."

"We will," Amy nodded.

I watched Max and Billy chatting as we pulled away, surprised she hadn't decked him already. Maybe they would get along, I reached over and took Amy's hand, glancing into the back seat where Michal sat clutching a stuffed dog, already half asleep before we pulled out of the parking lot. Yeah maybe they'd get along great I thought, kissing Amy's hand and leaning over to put my head on her shoulder.

Stranger things have happened.


End file.
